UAlbany’s McElroy retiring

That’s the headline of today’s story about University at Albany athletic director Lee McElroy announcing Monday that he is stepping down.

Both basketball programs have succeeded under McElroy’s tenure with the men going to four NCAA Tournaments and the women reaching the Big Dance the past three years in a row.

Head coach Will Brown expressed his gratitude that McElroy gave him the job full-time at the end of the 2001-02 season. Brown was promoted to replace Scott Beeten on an interim basis in Dec. 2001 and showed enough potential that McElroy made him the permanent coach without opening a national coaching search.

“I’ll be forever grateful to him for taking a chance on me and allowing me to build a program the way I thought a program should be built,” Brown said. “He allowed me to do it my way, on my terms and provided me the resources to allow me to build our program. I think we had a similar vision for the program with quality kids who were going to succeed on the court and in the classroom.

“He took a chance on a 29-year-old kid and I appreciate that and always will,” Brown continued.

McElroy hired women’s coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, then an Indiana assistant, in 2010 and has watched her win three straight America East titles at a program that never had a Division I winning record before her arrival.

“Obviously he’s awesome and I’m very grateful for everything he’s done for me,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “He’s given me a great opportunity here.”

She said she appreciated McElroy for his accessibility.

“His open-door policy,” she said. “I knew if I needed to talk about him about everything and anything, he was always great. It’s not like that a lot of places any more.”

As a follow-up, the scuttlebutt on campus is that there has been tension between President Jones and Dr. McElroy related to a standing offer to join the Colonial Athletic Association. That offer expires July 1.

Dr. McElroy has been operating under the impression that Pres. Jones was supportive of the move. The recent fallout may be because the President said that he would not sign off on the move.

The reason the CAA opportunity was denied previously and hadn’t been announced is that UAlbany wouldn’t have been permitted to compete in post-season play in the America East and, by default, the NCAA Championship (Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, and Men’s Lacrosse.)

It would explain the sudden “retirement.” At this stage of Dr. McElroy’s career, he has nothing left to prove other than “I told you it could be done.” So, if the University will not support the move to the CAA, he may as well retire.

An example of UAlbany’s emphasis on academics as well athletic achievement under Dr McElroy’s tenure as AD is the accomplishments of the Mens Basketball team this year:
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – University at Albany men’s basketball team topped the America East in the classroom for the 2013-14 academic year, the league announced on Wednesday afternoon. The 2014 America East Champions earned a 3.18 GPA.

“We really focus on recruiting quality student-athletes who compete at a high level in the classroom and on the court,” said head coach Will Brown. “This was a tremendous year for our program and winning the academic title is a great way to bring closure to a remarkable season.”

UAlbany men’s basketball was one of just two teams to win its conference tournament and earn the highest GPA for the sport.

The America East has been awarding the Academic Cup since 1995, and the overall institutional grade-point averages were calculated by dividing each student-athlete’s quality points by the total credits completed for grade.

This is the fourth time in the Will Brown era that the Great Danes have earned the top GPA among league teams, and the second time they’ve done so while also winning the conference tournament. The Purple & Gold took the honor in 2012, 2008 and 2007.

Very insightful article in the TU by Pete Iorizzo. I fear that UA will now loose ground in its progression in D1 athletics. Most of that will have to do with budget pressures, which plague Albany and Binghamton. Buffalo and Stony Brook must get a lot of money from alums.

Agree with all here regarding the good Doctor. Class act, brought UA athletics to an all time high. We may all eventually learn what truly transpired.

Personal feelings it comes down to following the money as usual. Not sure we can blame it on the president, some of the challenges may have come from the regents.

Question probraly was it better to be a big fish in small pond or small fish in big pond. Making the NCAA as often as UA has fair amount of revenue generated. Move to CAA feeling are that perhaps that revenue stream ceases or lessens considerably.